


let you know just how i feel

by towokuwusatsuwu



Series: Pride 2018: 30 Days of S.W.O.R.D. [3]
Category: HiGH&LOW: the Story of S.W.O.R.D. (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, First Dates, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 06:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14847314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: Cobra shifts in his seat, his knee brushing against Jesse’s as he does. “So, this alliance, this truce, whatever it is… You really think we can make it all work?”“Shit, man, if we can’t then we’re gonna have some split alliances so we kinda have to at this point.” The words are a joke more than anything else, like Pho or Brown would ever really ditch him, but Jesse doesn’t want the temptation in front of them. “Nah, it’ll be fine, I think. Just gotta keep up the communication, or whatever makes shit like this work.”“That’s the spirit.” Cobra sounds more bemused than anything else.





	let you know just how i feel

The table in the corner is small enough that their knees touch beneath the worn smooth tabletop; Jesse’s leg bounces with the memory of a recent song Ice has been working on without having it quite finalized and if it bothers Cobra at all, he says nothing. If he expects something more grand than a moderately shady pizza shop that Jesse hit the moment he stepped out of prison, then he’s out with the wrong guy. Jesse figures he must not mind that much, though; he has this weird little fond smile on his face that makes Jesse’s mouth dry.

He feels like a fool for waiting this long to do something about the strange connection between the two of them, the electric energy that danced through the air during their fights but was strangely just as present in normal conversation. Pho having a boy on each arm before Jesse is unheard of, a true testament to how much of an idiot he’s been acting; even  _ Brown _ has made moves before him and Jesse needs to correct that right away.

After all, he doesn’t take losses in fights and he isn’t going to take a loss in this either. Cobra has a nice smile and a nicer mouth, and Jesse wants to know if he tastes as sweet as the words that so easily roll off of his tongue in times of need.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Cobra asks, and Jesse ducks his head, not ready to be caught, not just yet. “What? Something on my face?”

“Nah, just thinking I’m glad I’ve not got a dorky ass haircut like yours.” Jesse half-smiles to show he’s joking and Cobra smirks at him. “You got a pretty face but half of S.W.O.R.D. is fawning over you so you gotta know that by now.”

Cobra rolls his shoulders, stretches his arms over his head and in his t-shirt, the defined muscles through his arms are thrown into sharp relief, and if Jesse oggles him a little, well, he’s just one man, right? Hard not to admire someone like Cobra. “I don’t pay too much attention to it, don’t want my head to get too big or anything. Mighty Warriors are all over you, though, too.”

Jesse snorts instead of dignifying that with an answer; Mighty Warriors are for him what Sannoh Rengokai is for Cobra, at least in spirit even if he doesn’t have the same vibe with all the new members that he does with Ice and Ryu. Prison changes things; being separated put things in perspective for him. Change or die, as Ice’s motto goes. Not that he minds, though; if Ice is gonna keep cute girls like Sarah and cute guys like Bernie around, Jesse has no reason to complain about any of the changes.

He runs a hand over his mouth and down his chin, bristle scraping against his skin. “Hope you like your pizza greasy because that’s the only way they serve it here.”

“That’s the only way to eat it.” Cobra raises his eyebrows in Jesse’s direction as their waitress walks up, a woman Jesse is well-acquainted with. “Order something good for me.”

The waitress tips Jesse a curious look but says nothing as she writes down his order, tucking her pen back behind her ear when she’s done and sauntering up to the bar to put in their order. If she finds it odd Jesse has brought in someone she hasn’t seen before, she doesn’t say anything about it but he expects questions the next time he shows up with someone she knows well enough to know she can ask him anything she wants to.

Cobra shifts in his seat, his knee brushing against Jesse’s as he does. “So, this alliance, this truce, whatever it is… You really think we can make it all work?”

“Shit, man, if we can’t then we’re gonna have some split alliances so we kinda have to at this point.” The words are a joke more than anything else, like Pho or Brown would ever really ditch him, but Jesse doesn’t want the temptation in front of them. “Nah, it’ll be fine, I think. Just gotta keep up the communication, or whatever makes shit like this work.”

“That’s the spirit.” Cobra sounds more bemused than anything else.

Jesse isn’t eloquent enough for a conversation like this one, but to be fair no one short of Sarah or Ryu is and he’s the one sitting in this seat right now. “As long as we stay on the same page about things, should be fine, right? We all want the same thing, at least right now.”

More or less, at least. Jesse likes to fight but a nice change of pace and a little peace and quiet for him and his people to relax in sounds just as good. Nothing wrong with a friendly spar now and then to break up the monotony but Jesse has no desire to spend every spare second splitting his knuckles open on some idiot’s jawline just because of a few misplaced words. And if being willing to settle down for a while gets him a piece of Cobra, might as well, right?

“That’s good enough for me, for now at least.” Cobra flashes him that small fond smile once more and Jesse’s knee bounces up hard enough to hit the table. “You didn’t bring me here to talk about this right now anyway. Ice says this is your idea of a romantic date.”

In answer, Jesse throws his arms wide. “You see this place? This is quality food, okay, and it’s  _ cheap. _ Some places charge five times as much for half as much food, and that’s bullshit.”

Cobra laughs, and the sound throws Jesse off his groove immediately, light and warm as it is like sunlight peeking through the clouds even though it’s well past ten and the sun went down hours ago. If this is what Yamato and Noboru go through every damn day, it’s no wonder the two of them are tied so firmly in knots over Cobra. Jesse  _ gets _ it, he really does.

“Besides,” he says when Cobra calms down, slouching down in his seat, “this is, like, one of  _ my _ places, y’know? So I wanted to share it with you. Ain’t nothing better than that.”

He might not be cut out for words the same way that Ice is but something in Cobra’s eyes seems to click into place when he speaks. Cobra leans forward, and Jesse is suddenly aware of how small this corner is and how pretty Cobra is up close. “Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“Don’t get all weird and sappy on me on the first date,” Jesse snarks in answer.

The pizza is hot when the pan gets set on their table and Jesse leans back to avoid getting burnt by the metal, appreciating the steam wafting off of the top. Even Cobra’s eyes widen a touch, though he still takes a sip of his beer before he reaches for a piece. It’s interesting to watch his fingers, nimble and scarred and callused, navigate between picking up a piece of pizza and not burning his fingertips off in the process.

Jesse appreciates this sight too much, maybe, but he’s seen so many of the people in his life eat that he picks up little things here and there. Ice’ll shove anything into his mouth in bites big enough to choke a normal man, and Sarah eats her food in a balance of flavors, and Ryu picks at his food like a bird. Cobra balances the bottom of the slice on the tips of his fingers and takes a bite, all unfair grace in a display that is frankly uncalled for.

When he moans, Jesse’s knee slams up into the table so hard it shakes.

“It’s so  _ good, _ ” Cobra tells him, licking grease and sauce off of his lips. He looks Jesse in the eye and it’s the sun through the clouds all over again, lighting up the inside of this shadowy dive like a summer’s day. “I’m going to have to pay you back for this one.”

Jesse snorts. “Nah, babe, ain’t no reason for that. I brought you here so you’d enjoy yourself.”

The pet name rolls off of his tongue so easily he almost doesn’t notice it but Cobra cocks his head at him and Jesse backtracks mentally until he stumbles over the word. Instead of answering, he just grins at Cobra and claims the largest slice of pizza for himself. They came here for this, right? No reason to feel self-conscious about any of it.

“Should invite you over for dinner one night, actually,” Cobra says, and Jesse raises an eyebrow at him. “Itokan, y’know, the diner that Tatsuya started before he passed away. It’s good food, it’s like home for all of us. You shared yours with me, right?”

Jesse picks a pepperoni off of his pizza, chews it in thought. “I guess that’d be fine. Don’t see why not. We’ll work up to getting you in the door of the Funk Jungle.”

“Funk Jungle,” Cobra echoes, giving his head a shake.

“Ice’s thing, y’know, his big dream. Everyone’s really, but y’know, he named it.” Jesse still remembers staring at the exterior for the first time, the red neon and the thump of the heavy bass behind the walls telling him all he needed to know. “It’s a good place. They run it well. Think you’d have a lot of fun, that is, if you can actually dance.”

Cobra smiles at him. “Guess you’ll have to wait and find out, huh?”

Watching Cobra eat is a spectacle, for certain. He sucks grease off of his fingers and licks his lips so often that Jesse is almost uncomfortable with the display in the best way, and Cobra seems not to notice any of it. His remark about not wanting to get a big head must have been true, in that respect, which Jesse finds amusing. More than once he catches Cobra’s eye over top of their food and flashes him a grin, nothing more, nothing less.

The parlor isn’t that far out of the way of Sannoh, so Jesse does what any gentleman would do and walks Cobra back to the apartment he shares with his boyfriends. The streets are dark and the threats are probably thin in this part of S.W.O.R.D. but Jesse has no delusions about how far Kuryu’s power can extend, and truth be told he would have done it anyway.

Cobra hesitates at the door, letting his shoulder lean against the wood. “Thanks, Jesse. It was good food, you were right. Like I said, gotta get you out to Itokan now.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it too much, we’ll get it figured out just like everything else.” Jesse curls his fingers, works the stiffness out of his knuckles, ignores the cracks and pops in his joints. “Get some rest, pretty boy, you look like you’re about to fall asleep on your feet.”

“Been a long day before we met up, y’know, getting everything back the way it used to be, or as close as possible. But we’re getting there.” Cobra hesitates, combs his fingers through his hair.

_ You don’t even know how beautiful you look right now, baby. _ Jesse isn’t about to say that out loud, though. Instead, he flicks Cobra on the nose. “Do I get a goodbye kiss?”

Cobra hums and then pushes himself off of the door; Jesse’s arms are around him before he has a chance to move that far and the kiss isn’t perfect, their lips don’t quite meet up the way they should and Jesse has no doubt his stubble is doing a number on Cobra’s smooth skin. Cobra tastes like cheap pizza and oil and beer, and something subtle underneath, a taste Jesse wants to taste with his tongue. But not tonight. Maybe another night.

He makes sure Cobra gets in the front door and then is on his way, pulling out his phone to text Ice to come pick him up so he doesn’t have to walk all the way back to the club himself. There will be questions as soon as he walks through the door, from his own boys and from Ice’s people, and Jesse knows he’ll have to cough up quite a few details before anyone will leave him alone about it. It’s just life in the Funk Jungle, and at this point he’s used to it.

The thought of telling everyone he’d gotten to kiss Cobra, though… May not be so bad. As far as first dates go, this might have been one of the better ones.


End file.
